As some of the largest camps in the world, they have acquired iconic status. They represent decades of an open-hearted Kenyan response to those fleeing wars and persecution in our sub-region.

But some of the largest terrorist attacks, such as the 2013 Westgate atrocity, have been planned and executed from Dadaab. The Al Shabaab terrorist group has been able to take advantage of the camps’ overcrowded and under-resourced conditions, and most importantly the limits to policing United Nations run sites, to operate with an alarming degree of freedom.

GOVERNMENT STATEMENT AND UPDATE ON THE REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES AND SCHEDULED CLOSURE OF DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP

For reasons of pressing national security that speak to the safety of Kenyans in a context of terrorist and criminal activities, the Government of the Republic of Kenya has commenced the exercise of closing Dadaab Refugee Complex.

Ministry of Interior Principal Secretary Dr. Karanja Kibicho receives police officers injured during riots in Kisumu yesterday. The officers were airlifted to Nairobi for specialized treatment. PS Kibicho and Inspector General Joseph Boinnett have received them a short while ago at Wilson airport, Nairobi.

Kenya does not take the war against the proliferation of illicit fire arms lightly. A recent study by the Small Arms Survey in collaboration with the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons revealed that, between 530,000 and 680,000 arms may be in the wrong hands across the country, Interior and Coordination of National Government Cabinet Secretary Mr. Joseph Nkaisserry has said.The flow of conventional weapons and in particular, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, with which most of the wars are fought today poses a great challenge to peace and stability in the Great Lakes Region, the Horn of Africa and the Neighboring States where we have witnessed wanton destruction of property, communities dislocated, economic and social development being undermined, among others. In fact, recent research indicates that every year, an average of 740,000 people are killed in different parts of the world either directly or indirectly through the use of illegal fire arms.